Thread: Flash vs Subtle Spinoff

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Oh, three choreos in three hours is just silly!

I tell you what I suspect of some of these international dance teachers-who-are-not-Americans. Their main job is being a dancer and like most professional dancers in the world, they are physically gifted, often athletically inclined and can just do stuff. So when they start to teach they teach at their own pace. It can take some time for such people to realise that most of the students in their workshops are just not capable of keeping up, and I think some of them hate to slow down.

Even Dr Mo, who is elderly and an excellent teacher, cracks the pace pretty hard.

I worked hard in Dr. Mo's workshop, but the pace set by Randa was that of a high impact (lot's of saidi jumps, and her own style) high intensity aerobics class. I loved it. But then again, I'm strange that way ..g.:

Update to the first post in this thread:

Another weekend, another hafla. This one following a one day workshop by Saqra. Not quite a full workshop show but a bit more serious than the average hafla. Lots of kids, newbie dancers, teenaged dancers, tribal gals, plus many experiened longtime dancers and instructors.

I was planning on doing El Enab but decided that it might be a little over the top for a family audience and I didn't want to frighten anyone with my "mangas." Had a copy of Taht il Shibbak still in my bag from last time. So that is what I did.

What a difference the audience makes. I felt the energy from the first moment. I felt they were with me on a journey. During the taqsim and layali I heard a couple of soft sounds of approval. And when I started shimmying for real near the end I could hear and feel the response. And then the announcer (a tribal fusion dancer) commented to the audience about how expressive my dancing was. Did I actually hear that! Blew me away. Later on a dancer stopped me and said that my dancing looked as if I knew what the song meant. I had to chuckle a little. Yes I do know and it showed.

Later Bhuzzer Haven did Shik, Shak, Shok and had the audience in the palm of her hand. Baladi heaven!

Hope this didn't sound like just shameless bragging. I am so pumped still tha I just wanted to share. An No, unfortunately there is no video. Story of my life. All my recent performances have had some reason why there was no video. This time the videographer didn't show up.

Souzan

I can remember what it was like to be a newbie sitting in the audience.

Lots of sparkly sexy dancers, doing magic tricks with their bodies -- especially when they were doing drum solos -- WOW!

A couple of dancers in heavy dresses swinging canes around -- huh?

Someone dancing to Annie Lennox with a sword on her head -- ooooh, kewl!

Some woman in a fully-covered dress dancing really slowly and not doing anything much... meh. (although I saw a few of these who really moved me)

Part of the problem, of course, was that I was seeing students of various levels and they often needed those whiz bang gimmicks to be interesting for a whole 3 minutes.

I've become a much more sophisticated audience member over the years, and seeing high-quality performances of beledi, saidi, etc. has opened my eyes.

But I try to remember that new audience members may not share my appreciation (yet). Hopefully, Souzan, you can be the person who does that for at least one or two members of each audience! It would be unrealistic to expect more (unless it's an audience of experienced dancers, of course).

Connecting with the audience and catering to the audience are too different things, though connected somewhat.

Catering to the audience, as in choosing costumes and music that appeal to them is important when you are doing a paid performance for a client. That person hired you and is not going to recommend you to a friend if you disappoint him or her. If the birthday girl prefers a bedlah to a dress and wants to hear a song by Hakim, that is a reasonable request. I do feel there are limits to how far you go to catering for an audience. Some things may just be out of line, like to skimpy a costume request or micromanagement. Some requests may be inappropriate for some dancers and not others. If you dance mainly beledi and earn a living dancing doing it, there is nothing wrong with declining a job that requests pop songs. If you have a day job and do not need the money and only want to dance Saidi, do your thing. It is all about the balance that works for you. At a Hafla, nobody is getting paid, it is more about showing people different dancers and giving dancers an opportunity to perform. People who are not yet pros get to perform too. I don't see how it would be wrong for a dancer to pick the song and outfit she prefers. (Unless it is Raqs Beaver or something.) What I like about haflas is to see something I havent seen yet.

Connecting with the audience is always important and there is no reason not to make eyecontact and smile now and then during a Beledi performance. You can be warm, engaging and charismatic without doing anything flashy. In fact, I think a more restrained, emotionally deep song allows for a deeper connection than a pop song.
It does have to come both ways though. A cold, moody audience is not going to help, nor a closed minded one.

I do think that using music in class causes it to grow on the students. We learned to dance to modern Egyptian, Classical Egyptian, Beledi and Saidi from the beginning. But then again I have an arab teacher who does not go very far away from the more traditional styles. There could be an Arab pop song or a Sudanese song, but not most fusion stuff. To me and my class Shik Shak Shok is a popular song. I think the other two teachers who teach Egyptian style use Beledi in class too. But I agree that you learn to like what you are exposed to. You can find somewhat simpler versions of some beledi songs or dance to them with a bit less variety or less layers until the students can dance the song in its full complexity.

Lauren and Bellissima,

Good points. Because I am not a professional dancer (at age 61 not likely to become one any time soon!) I mostly dance for other dancers, their families and friends, and some Arabic audience members at haflas, galas, showcases, and workshop shows. It does give me the luxury of doing what I want to do and wearing the kinds of costumes I want to wear.

Baladi, saidi, shaabi, tarab make sense to me and feel right on my body. I have a hearing disability and wear hearing aids. The use of the big boy drums and heavier beat in the baladi, saidi, and shaabi are easier for me to hear and feel. Tarab music lets me respond to the emotion of the melodic line. I love listening and dancing to classical Egyptian music, but its the baladi that has gotten into my soul. I am a baladi woman--a country girl wherever I live, smart, in charge, longing to be soft and sexy instead of always having to be tough and the boss. I get it and am driven by this music.

So I have taken on the role of introducing other dancers to these styles that they may not be exposed to otherwise. Like Lauren pointed out, beginning dancers may not get it right away because they haven't been exposed or haven't wrapped their minds and ears around it all yet. But one can hope!

Souzan

i've been reading this thread with interest, as after submerging myself in learning how to be fast glam wham the last few years (and i NEEDED to learn that and i enjoy it most of the time), i lately feel myself drawn to baladi music, slowing down, and feeling over flash... but keeping some of my new found control/technique.

trying to put some baladi stuff in my upcoming gigs (both festivals and some GP theatre shows), and let's see what happens ;-),

Yes yes, excited to see that!